Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/protestorremonstOOfowl 


Mftfi 


<■"7  A 

i G*  -c  v v 


PROTEST  OR  REMONSTRANCE 


M.  FIELD  FOWLED, 


AGAINST  OPENING  THE  DOORS  OF  THE 


PUBLLC  LIBRARY,  BOSTON, 


ON  THE  LORD’S  DAY. 


For  sale  at  Howard’s  News  Agency , Post  Office. 


BOSTON : 

ROCKWELL  & ROLLINS,  PRINTERS, 
122  Washington  Street. 

1 86  7. 


a .U'i.'i 
F*!1)  j. 


REMEMBER  THE  SABBATH  DAY  TO  KEEP 

IT  HOLY. 


To  the  Honorable  City  Council  of  Boston: 

The  undersigned  respectfully  protests  against  the  passage 
of  the  order  proposing  to  throw  open  the  doors  of  the  Public 
Library  on  the  Lord’s  Day.  I have  read  the  report  of  the 
joint  standing  committee  in  favor  of  the  same,  which  is  drawn 
up  certainly  with  great  ability,  if  not  with  insidious  logic.  I 
feel  a high  personal  regard  for  the  gentlemen  who  signed  that 
report,  and  from  their  official  position  it  is  no  doubt  a docu- 
ment that  will  exercise  a wide  and  important  influence  in  this 
community,  not  only  on  this  Public  Library  matter,  but 
opens  up  incidentally  all  the  other  questions  agitating  the 
community  on  the  observance  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  some 
of  which  are  specially  mentioned  in  the  report,  and  its  foun- 
dation, in  fact,  seems  to  me  to  rest  on  what  are  now  considered 
by  the  Christian  community  as  mischievous  practices  or  cus- 
toms, and  demoralizing  usages.  The  report  says  the  com- 
mittee represent  in  their  individual  character  the  denomi- 
national views  of  the  various  sects  of  the  Christian  faith . I 
confess  nothing  said  in  the  whole  report  has  " wounded  my 
feelings”  more  than  this  assertion  or  assumption  ; and  I should 
be  very  much  astonished  if  any  Christian  sect  or  denomi- 
nation in  Boston  should  admit  the  assertion  to  be  true,  or  con- 
firm the  premises  on  which  the  report  is  based.  I,  for  one, 
repudiate  it  in  toto,  and  consider  it  an  insult  to  the  church, 
or  denomination  to  which  I belong ; and  I believe  that  to  be 
the  sentiment  of  all  evangelical  Christian  denominations  in 
the  City  of  Boston. 

The  report  says,  "It  is  the  custom  and  an  acknowledged 
convenience  for  the  horse  cars  to  run  on  Sundays  in  this 


4 


city.”  Admitting  this  to  be  true,  so  far  as  those  who  use 
them  is  concerned,  does  not  prove  it  to  be  right  or  beneficial 
to  the  whole  community,  or  sanctioned  by  the  views  of  the 
Christian  denominations. 

According  to  the  report,  out  of  about  200,000  population 
in  this  city,  not  over  one  fourth,  or  50,000,  attend  church  on 
Sunday.  Further  it  says  : "The  fact  is,  that  a large  propor- 
tion of  our  people,  especially  young  men,  seldom,  or  never, 
attend  any  church.”  This  is  certainly  an  admission  that  there 
are  some  very  bad  " customs  ” indulged  in  on  Sunday  by  a 
great  majority  of  the  people.  As  the  horse-cars  are  used  on 
Sunday  by  only  a very  small  proportion  of  the  population, 
and  probably  they  are  mostly  of  the  class  just  alluded  to,  that 
" custom”  hardly  justifies  the  deductions  assumed  by  implica- 
tion favorable  to  opening  the  Public  Library  ! I doubt  if  the 
running  of  horse-cars  on  Sunday  is  sanctioned  by  anything 
like  a majority  of  Christian  worshippers,  or  even  voters,  of 
the  city  of  Boston. 

In  the  city  of  Baltimore,  recently,  with  all  the  influence  of 
Boston  example  eloquently  urged  by  a clergyman  represent- 
ing the  liberal  Christianity  of  Boston,  it  was  decided  by  only 
about  1,300  majority,  out  of  20,000  votes,  in  favor  of  Sun- 
day cars.  In  Boston,  last  year,  1,072  men  and  2,071  horses 
were  employed  and  worked  to  their  utmost  capacity  during 
the  week,  and  then  again  on  Sunday.  This  may  be  an  ac- 
knowledged "convenience”  to  some  folks,  but  the  Christian 
heart  that  defends  and  applauds  such  a " custom  ” must  be 
deplorably  ignorant  or  blind  to  its  evils  and  consequences  on 
all  sides.  My  experience  and  observations  on  this  Sunday 
"custom”  extends  back  to  1856,  three  years  before  the  "dis- 
cussion ” of  the  Public  Library  question  commenced,  and  it 
may  therefore  not  inaptly  be  considered  one  of  its  children. 
Perhaps  some  may  say  it  is  illegitimate  ; but  I think  the  horse- 
railroad  is  the  mother  of  it,  although  there  may  be  some 
doubts  about  the  father,  or  paternal  progenitor.  I plead 
guilty  to  being  one  of  the  grandfathers,  and  have  acknowl- 


5 ' 


edged  my  shame  a long  time  ago,  and  feel  now  that  it  is  time 
to  stop  the  propagation  and  generation  of  such  evils,  or 
"customs,”  by  destroying  the  root,  instead  of  cultivating  it. 

I certainly  think  it  is  a very  slim  and  feeble  argument  for 
the  " conservators  of  the  morals  of  the  community  ” to  be 
forced  upon,  when  they  appeal  to  the  example  of  the  Mer- 
chants’ Exchange,  and  other  reading-rooms  and  clubs,  to  jus- 
tify the  City  Government  of  this  old  and  Puritanical  City  of 
Boston  in  keeping  their  reading-room  open  on  Sundays  ! If 
His  Honor  the  Mayor,  or  some  one  or  more  of  the  Council, 
should  personally  superintend,  and  hand  out  the  "books, 
magazines,  and  papers,”  at  the  room,  Sundays,  it  would  be,  I 
think,  consistent,  if  not  appropriate. 

I have  been  the  target  for  the  sneers  of  a certain  daily  pa- 
per in  Boston  on  the  Sunday  Car  question.  I asked  them  why 
they  did  not  publish  their  valuable  paper  on  Sunday  afternoons, 
with  " the  thoughts  of  great  and  good  men  ” to  " inspire  and 
ennoble  their  readers but  they  have  not  yet  answered  my 
question,  but  are  probably  waiting  for  the  Public  Library  to 
open.  "As  a question  of  practical  morals”  no  doubt  there 
are  many  in  the  community  who  would  petition  in  favor  of 
opening  the  public  schools  on  Sunday,  and  back  it  up  with 
stronger  arguments  than  have  been  so  far  advanced  in  favor 
of  opening  the  Public  Library.  The  teachers  do  not  work 
half  so  hard  as  the  conductors  and  drivers  of  horse-cars  on 
week  days,  and  are  much  better  paid.  I question  the  need  or 
propriety  of  keeping  the  clubs  or  merchants’  reading-rooms 
open  on  Sundays.  Although  I am  no  fanatic,  I don’t  think  it 
is  parallel  with  the  laws  of  God  and  customs  of  our  country. 
The  New  York  Merchants’  Exchange  is  never  opened  on 
Sundays ; neither  is  the  London  Merchants’  Exchange,  which 
is  the  largest  in  the  world,  and  has  this  inscription  conspicu- 
ously on  its  front : " The  earth  and  the  fulness  thereof  are 
the  Lord’s,”  which  struck  me  forcibly. 

No  institution,  people,  or  government  can  expect  God’s 
blessing,  if  the  Bible  is  to  be  believed  as  his  " word,”  that 


does  not  publicly  acknowledge  God  in  all  their  ways,  and 
especially  in  remembering  the  Lord’s  Day,  or  Christian 
Sabbath,  to  keep  it  holy.  It  is  originally  not  only  a law  of 
creation  from  the  dawn  of  time,  but  an  act  of  benediction 
for  the  physicial,  intellectual,  and  moral  constitution  of  our 
nature  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  its  Creator.  The  fourth 
commandment,  like  any  other  of  the  ten  commandments,  was 
written  by  the  great  JEHOVAH,  not  on  paper,  like  the  Pen- 
tateuch, but  on  tables  of  stone,  the  symbol  of  durability. 
It  received  the  express  sanction  of  CHRIST  and  his  Apostles, 
who  declared  that  the  Gospel,  far  from  overthrowing  the  law, 
establishes  and  fulfils  it.  Hence,  it  is  called  "a  schoolmaster 
to  bring  to  Christ,”  and  we  are  " under  the  law  to  him.”  The 
forms  of  obedience  may  change,  but  virtue  is  unalterable ; 
consequently,  moral  obligation  is  the  same  in  its  principle 
under  the  Patriarchal,  the  Jewish,  and  the  Christian  dispen- 
sations. And  under  whatever  dispensations  mankind  may  be 
placed,  and  whatever  requirements  the  Creator  may  see  fit  to 
institute,  man  can  never  be  released  from  the  binding  duties 
which  originate  in  the  very  constitution  of  his  nature.  It 
would  reflect  on  the  character  of  God,  who  is  unchangable,  to 
suppose  that  under  one  dispensation  he  has  prescribed  a law 
which  is  at  variance  with  the  principles  he  has  established 
under  another.  It  is  to  place  Deity  in  opposition  to  Him- 
self and  virtually  to  deny  his  perfections.  The  Jewish  Sab- 
bath rose  with  the  Saviour  from  the  grave  as  a new  creation 
on  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  with  the  fulness  of  the 
gospel  salvation,  and  descended  with  the  Holy  Ghost  from 
his  exalted  throne  of  glory,  on  the  day  of  Pctecost,  to  be  ob- 
served as  the  Christian  Sabbath  or  " the  Lord’s  Day  ” in 
his  church  to  the  end  of  time. 

In  conclusion,  I would  echo  the  truthful  and  eloquent  sen- 
timents in  a pamphlet  published  by  the  New  York  Sabbath- 
Committee  : — 

" The  day  of  holy  rest,  to  a land  bearing  the  Christian  name, 
and  to  a republic  based  on  equal  lights,  has  the  highest  Civil 


7 


Worth.  Man  needs  it,  physically,  as  a season  when  Labor 
may  wipe  off  its  grime,  and  breathe  more  freely  after  a week’s 
exhaustion,  and  when  Care  shall  slacken  its  hold  upon  the 
frame  and  the  heart.  Man  needs  it,  morally , to  rise  by  its 
aid  out  of  engrossing  secularities  and  materialism  to  the  re- 
membrance of  his  spiritual  interests,  his  final  account,  and  his 
eternal  destiny.  Toil  needs  it,  to  rescue  its  share  of  rest, 
and  its  season  of  devotion  from  the  absorbing  despotism  of 
Capital ; and  Capital  needs  it,  to  shield  its  own  accumula- 
tions from  the  recklessness  and  anarchy  of  the  imbruted  and 
the  desperate,  and  to  keep  its  own  humanity  and  conscien- 
tiousness alive.  The  State  needs  it,  as  a safeguard  of  the 
public  order,  quiet  and  virtue,  — human  laws  becoming,  how- 
ever wise  in  form,  effete  in  practice,  except  as  they  are  based 
upon  conscience  and  upon  the  sanctions  of  Eternity,  as  recog- 
nized voluntarily  by  an  intelligent  people ; and  God’s  day 
cultivating  the  one  and  reminding  us  of  the  other.  And  in  a 
republic  more  especially,  whose  liberties,  under  God,  inhere 
in  its  virtues,  the  recognition  — freely  and  devoutly,  by  an 
instructed  nation  — of  God’s  paramount  rights  is  the  moral 
underpinning  requisite  to  sustain  the  superstructure  of  man’s 
rights;  and  without  such  support  from  religion, — not  as 
nationally  established,  but  as  personally  and  freely  accepted, 
— all  human  freedom  finally  moulders  and  topples  into  irre- 
trievable ruin.” 

And  if  the  City  Council  shall  decide  to  open  the  Public  Li- 
brary reading-room  on  the  Lord’s  Day,  I hope  they  will  buy 
a few  hundred  volumes  of  a work  recently  published  by  the 
New  York  Sabbath-Committee,  entitled  " THE  SABBATH, 
viewed  in  the  light  of  Reason,  Revelation,  and  History,  with 
sketches  of  its  Literature,  by  the  Rev.  James  Gilfillan, 
Sterling,  Scotland,”  and  put  it  on  the  tables  for  the  use  of 
visitors. 

M.  FIELD  FOWLER. 

Boston,  June  3d,  1867. 


4 


' 


